The First Rattle of the Rattlesnake.
One day about this time Master Raymond was sitting in the porch of the
Red Lion, thinking over a sight he had just seen;--a man had passed by
wearing on the back of his drab coat a capital I two inches long, cut
out of black cloth, and sewed upon it. On inquiry he found the man had
married his deceased wife's sister; and both he and the woman had been
first whipped, and then condemned to wear this letter for the rest of
their lives, according to the law of the colony.[3]
[Footnote 3: See Drake's History of Boston]
Master Raymond was puzzling over the matter not being able to make out
that any real offence had been committed, when who should walk up to the
porch but Master Joseph Putnam. After a hearty hand-shaking between the
two, they retired to Master Raymond's apartments.
"Well, how are things getting along at Salem?"
"Oh, about as usual!"
"Any more accusations?"
"Plenty of them, people are beginning to find out that the best way to
protect themselves is to sham being 'afflicted,' and accuse somebody
else."
"I saw that a good while ago."
"And when a girl or a woman is accused, her relatives and her friends
gather around her, and implore her to confess, to save her life. For
they have found that not one person who has been accused of being a
witch, and has admitted the fact, has been convicted.
"And yet it would seem that a confession of witchcraft ought to be a
better proof of it, than the mere assertion of possible enemies,"
responded Master Raymond.
"Of course--if there was any show of reason or fairness in the
prosecutions, from first to last; but as it is all sheer malice and
wickedness, on the part of the accusers, from the beginning to the end,
it would be vain to expect any reasonableness or fairness from them."
"We must admit, however, that there is some delusion in it. It would be
too uncharitable to believe otherwise," said Master Raymond
thoughtfully.
"There may have been at the very first--on the part of the children,"
replied Master Putnam. "They might have supposed that Tituba and
friendless Sarah Good tormented them--but since then, there has not
been more than one part of delusion to twenty parts of wickedness. Why,
can any sane man suppose that she-wolf sister-in-law of mine does not
know she is lying, when she brings such horrible charges against the
best men and women in Salem?"
"No, I give up Mistress Ann, she is possessed by a lying devil,"
admitted Master Raymond.
"It is well she does not hear that speech," said Joseph Putnam.
"Why?"
"Because, up to this time, you seem to have managed to soften her heart
a little."
"I have tried to. I have thought myself justified in playing a part--as
King David once did you know."
"It is that which brings me here. I met her at the house of a friend
whom I called to see on some business a day or two ago."
"Ah!"
"She said to me, in that soft purring voice of hers, 'Brother Joseph, I
hear that your good friend Master Raymond is still in Boston.' I
answered that I believed he was. 'When he took leave of me,' she
continued, 'I advised him not to stay long in that town--as it was
often a bad climate for strangers. I am sorry he does not take wise
counsel.' Then she passed on, and out of the house. Have you any idea
what she meant?"
Master Raymond studied a moment over it in silence. Then he said:--"It
is the first warning of the rattlesnake, I suppose. How many do they
usually give before they spring?"
"Three, the saying goes. But I guess this rattlesnake cannot be trusted
to give more than one."
"I was convinced I saw your brother Thomas as I came ashore from the
Storm King the other day."
"Ah, that explains it then. She understands it all then. She understands
it all now just as well as if you had told her."
"But why should she pursue so fiendishly an innocent girl like Dulcibel,
who is not conscious of ever having offended her?"
"Why do tigers slay, and scorpions sting? Because it is their nature, I
suppose," replied Master Putnam philosophically. "Because, Mistress
Dulcibel openly ridiculed and denounced her and the whole witchcraft
business. And you will note that there has not been a single instance
of this being done, that the circle of accusers have not seemed
maddened to frenzy."
"Yes,--there has been one case--your own."
"That is true--because I am Thomas Putnam's brother. And, dupe and tool
as he is of that she-wolf, and though there is no great amount of love
lost between us--still I am his brother! And that protects me. Besides
they know that it is as much any two men's lives are worth to attempt to
arrest me."
"And then you think there is no special enmity against Dulcibel?"
"I have not said so. Jethro Sands hates her because she refused him;
Leah Herrick wants her driven away, because she herself wants to marry
Jethro, and fears Jethro might after all, succeed in getting Dulcibel;
and Sister Ann hates her, because--"
"Well, because what?"
"Oh, it seems too egotistical to say it--because she knows she is one of
my dear friends."
"She must dislike you very much then?"
"She does."
"Why?"
"Oh, there is no good reason. At the first, she was inclined to like
me--but I always knew she was a cold-blooded snake and she-wolf, and I
would have nothing to do with her. Then when brother Thomas began to
sink his manhood and become the mere dupe and tool of a scheming woman,
I remonstrated with him. I think, friend Raymond, that I am as
chivalrous as any man ought to be. I admire a woman in her true place as
much as any man--and would fight and die for her. But for these men that
forget their manhood, these Marc Antonies who yield up their sound
reason and their manly strength to the wiles and tears and charms of
selfish and ambitious Cleopatras, I have nothing but contempt. There are
plenty of them around in all ages of the world, and they generally glory
in their shame. Of course brother Thomas did not enjoy very much my mean
opinion of his conduct--and as for sister Ann, she has never forgiven
me, and never will."
"And so you think she hates Dulcibel, mainly because you love her?"
"That is about the shape of it," said Master Putnam drily. "That
Dulcibel feels for me the affection of a sister, only intensifies my
sister-in-law's aversion to her. But then, you see, that merely on the
general principle of denouncing all who set themselves in opposition to
the so-called afflicted circle, Dulcibel would be accused of
witchcraft."
"Well, for my part, I think the whole affair can only be accounted for
as being a piece of what we men of the world, who do not belong to any
church, call devilishness," said Master Raymond hotly.
"You see," responded Master Putnam, "that you men of the world have to
come to the same conclusion that we church members do. You impute it to
'devilishness' and we to being 'possessed by the devil.' It is about the
same thing. And now give me an idea of your latest plans. Perhaps I can
forward them in some way, either here or at Salem."